Wales Population 2016

The latest estimate for the popualation of Wales (Cymru) comes from the Office of National Statistics, who reported in 2011 that the population had passed three million for the first time. To be precise, they estimated that, in mid-2011, 3,006,400 people lived in Wales.

The 2001 census reported that Wales’ population was 2,903,085, so this represents an increase of just over 100,000 people in a decade. The results of the 2011 census showed a population of 3,063,456.

Largest cities in Wales

The three largest cities in Wales are Cardiff (pop: 292,150 in 2001), Swansea (pop: 169,880) and Newport (116,143), all located on the Southern Coast. Cardiff was the 14th largest city in the United Kingdom at the time of the 2001 census.

Rhondda and Barry are the only other towns in Wales that are home to more than 50,000 people. Wrexham is the largest town in Northern Wales, with 42,576 residents in the town proper, although the wider Wrexham Urban Area has 63,084 residents.

Ethnicity and Religion in Wales

There has been some controversy in Wales in recent years because, although people in Scotland and Northern Ireland are able to identify themselves in the census as Scottish or Irish by ticking a box, no equivalent option is available in Wales. Nonetheless, 14% of people who completed the census in Wales felt strongly enough to write in that they were of Welsh ethnicity.

Some related data is available, as well. The 2001 census revealed that 75% of people in Wales at the time were born in Wales. 20% were born in England, and less than one per cent in either Scotland, Northern Ireland or Ireland. In addition, a labour force survey completed the same year revealed that 72% of adults in Wales regarded themselves as wholly Welsh, and an additional 7% regarded themselves as partly Welsh.

More generally, the 2001 census revealed that only 2.1% of the Wales population was non-white (0.88% Asian, 0.40% Chinese and 0.25% Black) and 0.61% of mixed race. Everyone else reported that they were White (95.99% White British, 1.28% White Other and 0.61% White Irish).

Welsh language

There are two official languages in Wales – English and Welsh.

The 2001 census recorded that 20.8% of people in Wales can speak Welsh to some degree. Other surveys put the number of Welsh speakers in Wales at a slightly higher level. Promotion of the language by the Welsh Assembly Government, combined with legal protection, have led to an increase in the number of Welsh speakers over the past few decades and it is likely that the 2011 census will report a further increase in usage.